Different Ways
Different Wa''ys'' Episode Two, Season Eight, of Cold. Enjoy <3 Different Ways A paw was poking me in the stomach. “Go away, Mosspaw,” I muttered, just picking a random kit from my mind to blame, “I’m sleeping.” “Guess again.” I recognized the snarky voice of Frosty. I rolled over and glared at the white rogue. “What is your excuse for waiting me up just before dawn today?” Frosty huffed, “We need to go hunting.” “Ask someone else.” The white rogue poked me again, causing me to flinch. “As must as I despise the idea of hunting or even waking you up, Shade, I have no one left to choose from.” I pointedly looked over her shoulder at the other four cats sprawled asleep around our makeshift camp. “There are four other cats, Frosty, I’m not the only one you have to wake up to go hunting. Or you could go yourself for StarClan’s sake.” “I don’t like doing all the work, you see,” Frosty stretched and yawned, “And Kitkat’s useless in the morning-” “When is Kitkat ever useful?” I muttered. Frost shot me a glare and continued, “Brownhare’s, I don’t know, some medicine cat? Wavepaw and Mosspaw are not options; which leaves you.” “I’m flattered,” I sighed, slowly standing from my nest, “Perhaps you should get used to doing the dirty work such as hunting and all that. Those apprentices aren’t going to be your servants you know?” “For your information,” Frosty retorted haughtily, “I’m capable of doing all the dirty work. Who do you think goes out on missions to murder our enemies? Me and Kitkat of course. We never send servants to do those things.” “Right…” my right eye twitched, “Thanks for correcting me.” She didn’t reply and merely stalked away. Sighing miserably, I followed her through the light flurry of snow, hoping we could catch something quickly in this weather before we froze to death. We walked quite a distance before Frosty halted and crouched. “There’s a rabbit,” she hissed, “Let’s get it.” I crouched next to her, muttering, “Is this how you hunt? Walking until you find something worth catching?” Frosty raised an eyebrow, “How do you hunt then?” I sighed and focused on the rabbit instead, “I can see why you send your little servants to hunt instead.” I stalked forward, checking the wind to make sure the rabbit couldn’t scent me. Then I made my way slowly towards the rabbit. I bunched up my muscles and before I could jump- Frosty sent a shower of snow over me as she raced forward, sprinting after the startled rabbit. I coughed and blinked snow out of my eye and shook out my fur. “Frosty!” I yowled, “What in the name of StarClan are you doing?” “Hunting,” she purred nonchalantly, the rabbit laid before her. “That is not how you hunt.” “Actually, it is how I'' hunt. I don’t know about you, but I think I determine how I hunt, not you. It’s like saying you’re Storm, not Shade.” I huffed, “I almost had it too!” Frosty smiled slightly (A miracle!), “Almost doesn’t catch you prey, Shade. I think I win because I got it first.” “Your way makes it easier to lose prey! I bet I can catch more prey my way than you can your way!” I protested. “I still caught it didn’t I?” Frosty smirked. Grumbling, I stalked off. “Fine,” I spat, “We’ll have a contest. Whoever can catch the most prey by dawn.” “Deal.” ~ I lost. The little pesky rogue had stolen all my catches. She would wait until I had holed it up somewhere in a good position before using her speed to catch it instead. I realized she actually did have a tactic, but she mostly relied on stalking to position it correctly. By the end of the contest, I had lost five to zero. What a flop. “I win!” Frosty crowed, “And you lose!” “Way to rub it in,” I mumbled, wishing I could tear off her pelt. Frosty laughed infuriatingly, “I proved you wrong, didn’t I?” “You cheated! You stole all my prey and made me do all the hard work,” I growled, stomping away. “You should have made the rules more clear,” Frosty sang merrily. (It must have been the happiest I had seen her.) “You’re the ones who set up the rules after all. I didn’t break any of the rules.” “I thought ''civilized cats – which you aren’t – would follow normal hunting rules.” I grunted. Frosty waved off the jab and pranced back to camp. “I still win!” “Great StarClan, you’d think she’s never won anything before,” I sighed as I followed her more slowly. ~ I found myself sitting next to Brownhare when we divided up the prey. We weren’t really talking but at least I was sitting close to him. It’s been nearly two moons since we’ve really told each other how much we loved each other. Or in Brownhare’s case…''greatly cared'' for each other. “How are you?” He asked me, glancing over at me, catching me with his luminous yellow eyes. “As good as we can get out here.” Brownhare laughed a bit but shook his head, “I meant about…my apology and everything between us. I know it’s usually you who ask me, but I want to be the one who bridges the gap between us.” I blinked, feeling a bit taken aback by the question. “I’m fine,” I mewed quietly, “Nothing has changed after all.” Brownhare’s gaze remained on me as I bent down to take another bite of my rabbit. I felt self-conscious. Why was Brownhare worrying? I had accepted his apology after all and it wasn’t really his fault that we broke up in the first place. “A lot of things have changed,” he corrected gently, “you can’t always act like we never had conflict.” I cursed myself for being so indifferent. “I just want it to normal,” I told him, “That’s all. I don’t want to feel like things have changed because of our past mistakes. I want to act like nothing has happened.” “What about the truth?” I nearly flinched. I didn’t need him to remind me that he wasn’t capable of love. That all he would really see in me is deep affection. He had reassured me that it was love, but sometimes being like love and truly being love were two different things. “There’s nothing to say about the truth,” I mewed stubbornly, “So you can’t love? Big deal. You still care for me and that’s enough.” “I cared about Amberfrost, yet that did not qualify as ‘love’ to her,” Brownhare mewed softly, “There were cats I cared about, even deeply cared about, but that didn’t count as love.” “What’s your point?” I asked, my heart racing. Brownhare turned his head so his nose touched mine. I froze, warmth rushing to my face. “My point is that you’re special.” I closed my eyes and let the moment last forever. Time slowed and I relished and savored the moment. Love was something that would last forever. That was for certain. “I love you,” I whispered. This time he didn’t hesitate to say, “I love you too, Shade.” ~ Frosty found it unnerving that nobody cared that they were sitting close together. Back at home, the rogues always shot them strange looks (though they were wise not to speak out). Here, the apprentices didn’t seem to notice and Shade and Brownhare didn’t glance at them at all. (After all they were mooning over one another instead.) “Stop looking away and focus on me,” Kitkat sighed, “Me and my beautiful pelt that you love so much.” “Oh for the love of…” Frosty turned her head so she was facing Kitkat again, “I don’t have to look at your twenty-four seven, Kitkat.” “Yes you do!” Kitkat wailed, “What if you only look when my pelt is messy? You have to look at me all the time so you won’t miss my beauty!” Frosty huffed, “But then I’ll always see your dirty pelt too.” Kitkat frowned, “But it’s better than missing my beautiful pelt!” The white she-cat rolled her eyes. Nothing she said fazed Kitkat. The brown and white she-cat was almost oblivious to whatever taunts she shot at her. Perhaps it was because Kitkat was indifferent about this, or too obsessed with her pelt to care. Or too in love. “Are any of them watching?” Kitkat asked in a loud whisper – probably loud enough for everyone else to hear. Frosty’s eyebrow twitched and she glanced over Kitkat’s shoulder just to please the brown and white she-cat. “No,” she muttered, “Nobody’s looking.” She ignored the stares of the two apprentices. Kitkat sighed in relief but she took her time by first twisting to groom her fur. “I have to look perfect,” Kitkat insisted. “Oh for the love of the stars this is how you do it.” Frosty leaned down and touched noses with Kitkat. The brown and white she-cat let out a shriek – but of joy. The two apprentices made gagging noises and Shade and Brownhare were too busy with each other to notice Kitkat’s unearthly screams. ~ Wavepaw licked his sister’s pelt, feeling content. For days they had been in captivity, held in by the Shadows. They still held faint scars from the incident, but it was pushed away into the back of their minds. Now was the time to make RiverClan proud of them. They were sharing a hawk since there wasn’t enough prey for all of them to have one. Mosspaw was looking rather drowsy now that they were practically finished. “Do you miss home?” Wavepaw sighed as he leaned in. Mosspaw opened her eyes, “Yeah, but it doesn’t hurt as much as it used to considering we were away for a whole moon.” Wavepaw buried his head into her soft fur. “I guess,” he mumbled, “But I miss training or living on the island.” “Me too.” The two lapsed into silence again. Wavepaw hated this subject but he decided to bring it up anyways. They had to talk about it sometime, even if the killers weren’t sitting too far away. “Do you think Stonekit and Minnowfur are happy in StarClan?” Mosspaw met his gaze with strong eyes. “Of course, and so is Reedtail. I bet they’re having lots of fun together up there in the stars.” Wavepaw furrowed his brow, “I miss them. Why did they have to go?” Mosspaw sighed mournfully, “I don’t know, but I know I’m going to try my hardest to please them.” Wavepaw smiled sadly, “Me too.” As the two of them curled up together, they promised each other that they would fight for their lost family members and for RiverClan. Nothing was stronger than love. The End. Category:Fan Fictions Category:Cchen3's Fanfics Category:Cold